Super Loopz was intended for a US release by Imagineer. A prototype of the Pal version has been found, it shows the game in a near-complete state. The game was cancelled for unknown reasons. Thanks to an anonymous person for the prototype, and Retromags for the magazine scans.

Super Loopz is a puzzle game somewhat like a mixture of Pipe Dreams and Tetris, with the goal of building up a network of interconnected pipes so that you create a full loop. It features a variety of options, including arcade (building 10 loopz to clear each stage), two-player and puzzle modes. I liked the game, but the most frustrating aspect is that they don't show you the next piece coming up, like in Tetris. It makes planning much harder. The game came out in Japan and was cancelled for unknown reasons in the North America and PAL regions.

Prototype Cartridge

The only knowledge we have on the PAL version comes from a prototype cart of the game. The game was developed in Italy by Graffiti, and the original concept being created by British developer Audiogenic (best known for releasing Amiga and PC games). Audiogenic released an Amiga port of this game. I am not aware of any coverage of this game in Europe that would have indicated that the Super NES version would be released in the region, though.

This prototype is of a near final version of the game. A direct comparison of the prototype and the Japanese version of the game reveals that about 20% of the binary is different. Looking more closely, most of that is in blank areas of the binary, so the actual difference is much less than that. I played both the Japanese and prototype versions of the game, and there are few notable changes. One notable difference is that there is no "Imagineer" splash screen when booted up (I imagine the prototype pre-dates that company being the publisher). The title screen notes that this is a "demo version". There is no password in the arcade mode in the prototype. The "puzzle" mode is called "bonus" in the prototype. I also noted that the first bonus stage in the arcade mode did not have sound. Looking in the binary, there is a 1993 copyright date in the prototype, while the game came out in March 1994 in Japan. I do not expect there to be any graphical changes.

Prototype

Final version

Prototype

Final version

Prototype

Final version

No known prototypes of the US version exist, though it is unlikely that it would be much different from the Japanese version, which has no Japanese text. A nearly complete (95%) version of this game was previewed in the May 1994 issue of EGM, where they praised its addictive qualities and frantic two player mode. It also got solid reviews in the July 1994 issue. Nintendo Power gave it a two page overview in the June 1994 issue. They also gave it decent reviews. Box art for the game has been found, so this was likely pretty close to being released. As to why it was cancelled, we can only speculate.